If you are serious as a blogger, you should seriously start an Email list ASAP. Email marketing is one of the best ways to genuinely connect with your readers, and it’s also one of the best ways to make money with your blog. Given these considerations, failing to start an Email list or starting one and not using it, would be a serious mistake. But that’s what tons of bloggers do because they underestimate why an Email list is so important.
5 Reasons Why You Should Start an Email List
It’s Your Best Chance to Really Connect with your Readers
A lot of your readers visit your site just ONCE and never return. You will likely never see them again. But if you capture their Email and connect with them via your Email marketing, you’ll have a good chance of drawing them back to your site again and again and maybe even sell them products, services, or courses.
A lot of bloggers focus most of their efforts on social media, but posts on social media are fleeting and your reach is completely at the mercy of the algorithms and their rules. Mess up and you could lose access to your entire following. But your Email list is where you have the most control over access to your readers. You can Email them after often as you decide – they can unsubscribe and sometimes do, and sometimes your Emails will end up in a spam folder, but it gives you a better chance than the randomness of social media.
Starting an Email List Makes You Seem More “Real” To Your Readers
When you regularly Email your subscribers, they start to feel like they know you, which of course is part of the know-like-trust triad, that is super important to convincing people to buy from you. Especially if you write Emails that are interesting and have a few personal tidbits, people start to see you as more of a real person and not just a random name. I have several people that I get regular Emails from who seem almost like good friends of mine.
Email Subscribers are more Likely to Buy than Random Readers
If someone takes the action to sign up for your Email – usually in exchange for a freebie, they have made a small investment with you, so they are likely to follow-up when you try to get them to read more posts or buy your products or services. It’s psychology.
Boost Your Traffic with Your Email List
Sending out your newly published blog posts is a great way to boost your pageviews on new posts that might otherwise not get a lot of hits. I’m definitely going to send this post out to my Email list. I try to mix up my newsletters by sending out a variety of info-only Emails alternated with ones where I’m selling stuff, and even throw in a video Email every now and then. Of course, EVERY Email I sent out has some basic links – social media links, and links to a few of my favorite products and services. It just makes sense because you never know when someone might want one of your products.
Using Your Email List for Email Marketing
Selling your products and services is kind of the whole point of why you’d want to start an Email list in the first place. You don’t even have to have products of your own, you could sell affiliate products or courses that are related to your blog niche.
Here are some of the things I’ve sold to my Email lists over the years – some are my own products and some are affiliate products:
- Planners
- Legal packages for bloggers
- Ebooks
- WordPress themes
- Courses
- Canva templates
- Consultations
- VA services
- Coaching Packages
Prices range from under $10 to over $500 – (note that the higher priced items usually require a personal conversation, but an Email is a great way to get the ball rolling).
How to Start an Email List
Now that you know WHY to set up an Email list, your next question is going to be HOW to set up an Email list. It’s not necessarily difficult, but it is one of the more technical tasks you’ll need to do for your blog, and there’s some ways you can go wrong with it. So, it can be considerably time-consuming and a bit frustrating to try to set it up yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing.
That’s why I offer an Email set-up service as one of the VA services I offer. I will help you with the following tasks:
- Help you select from the various Email Marketing Tools available (spoiler – MailerLite is the service I prefer after trying at least three other services) – it’s free for the first thousand users and has a great selection of features available at the free level. Click HERE for my Affiliate Link if you want to sign up for it.
- I’ll help you set up to deliver your freebie or other lead magnet
- Set up your pop up or subscription box to give your readers a way to sign up
- Help you segment your list based on user behavior
- Work with you to set up a basic Email template with all your pertinent information to use for your Welcome sequence and your weekly Emails.
- I’ll also advise you on what information to include in your automated Welcome sequence to welcome your new readers and acquaint them with your products and services.
If you’re interested in getting some help to start an Email list of your very own, I’d be happy to set up a call to get things going for you. Just leave me some contact info to reach you. No pressure, I promise!
Here are some other posts I think you might enjoy:
5 Ways to Repurpose Your Blog Content for More Traffic
You Could Start Earning $1000 Every Month with a Small Blog
7 Essential Upgrades for Your Blog
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